Single-Payer Health Care Would End Insurance Confusion

The suggestions in "How to navigate the health insurance maze" from the editors of Consumer Reports magazine [Dec. 22, courant.com] are well-intentioned and I am sure some people may find them helpful.

I have doubts, however, that the majority of people looking for health insurance will understand all the nuances contained in the nine proposals. As a physician, I had trouble and I finally gave up.

Young people just starting out in life or young couples starting a family are challenged enough; they don't need the added stress of finding out after an illness that their coverage was so poor that they were overwhelmed with medical bills. For medical bills are the leading cause of personal bankruptcy.

It would be more beneficial to the public if the editors at Consumer Reports published a study describing how a single-payer system (Medicare for everyon) might eliminate all the confusion caused by private insurance companies, each with their different plans, different coverages, different co-pays and different premiums.